A third of agms held behind closed doors in 2020 without shareholders present

More than seven out of ten companies were forced to disapply pre-emption rights

According to the report, 36 per cent of agms took place behind closed doors with no external shareholders physically present

A third of listed Irish companies were forced to hold their annual general meetings (agms) behind closed doors in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic also reducing the number paying dividends.

A new report on Irish listed companies by Mason Hayes & Curran, one of the country’s biggest legal firms, also found that more than seven out of ten companies were forced to dis-apply pre-emption rights – allowing them to bypass shareholders to raise money through ...